Reviews - The First Thing About You

102 reviews for:

The First Thing About You

Chaz Hayden

3.8 AVERAGE

bookmehnia's review

4.0

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

{68/2022} 4/5🌟Fiction | 362 pages

It’s boy met world. Boy met girl. Boy liked girl. High-school drama all over again. Only one thing perhaps makes it different. The boy had spinal muscular atrophy. Easier explanation, he was a boy in a powered wheelchair.

Harris was a new boy at a new school. He and his family had just moved from California. For Harris to be able to go through school as normally as possible, he needed to have a nurse accompanying him at all time, someone he would call his “executive assistant”. That position came in the form of a new nurse, Miranda.

Miranda was like the coolest girl Harris had ever met, and Miranda helped Harris to win Nory’s affection, a girl Harris has seemed to fall in love with. Miranda also helped Harris to become more confident and outgoing. However, Miranda had secrets of her own. Something happened that made Harris’ life went topsy-turvy.

This book reminds me of “Wonder” and August. Harris had one strong support system in his family, a very will-power mom who had his back all the time. He had one supportive bestfriend. However, we know, it is during teenagers we begin to explore our feelings - the need to prove ourself, to be paid attention to, to be liked and to be accepted. Harris was not an exception. Despite his condition, Harris was just like any other teenager. A matter that we “normal” people should understand that people with different abilities, they are just like any other people. They have their own dark episodes too. They sometimes are at war with their own feelings. There are some parts where I was so angry at Harris because I think he was rude and selfish, but aren’t we all? So, it certainly was not because of his disability.

It makes it even more interesting that the writer of this book is like Harris. Chaz Hayden was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy as an infant (you can check his Youtube channel and instagram). Who better to explain what actually goes through the mind of people with disabilities than someone who has them. It’s eye-opening.

I can’t help but to be reminded a bit of “Ten Things I Hate about You” a little bit.

A warm-hearted kind of story, even for an adult like me.

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readswithcocktails's review against another edition

medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

smallgourd's review

3.5

funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kaitlyns_library's review

4.0

This was quite engaging and I quite enjoyed it. All the characters were flawed and I sometimes just didn’t like them, which I think was the point.

nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition

3.5

informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is a heartwarming coming-of-age starting Harris, a fifteen-year-old with Spinal Muscular Atrophy and a particular passion for color psychology. Indeed, the first question he asks any new person is “What is your favorite color?”
When Harris and his family move to New Jersey from California to support his father’s career and his brother’s lacrosse prospects, Harris is totally thrown off by his locker neighbor’s refusal to answer his question on the first day of school. The rest of the book pursues the development of their relationship, the grief and loneliness they share, the complications of peer pressure and social groups, a bit of teenage rebellion, and an exploration of risk-taking in such a loving, communicative environment.

This own voices novel focuses on the idea of going beyond a single story or superficial perspective. Every character has elements of surprise in their background, and it’s all told with a sense of openness and curiosity. I especially loved Harris’ relationship with his family and the aggressive support they provided each other. I did think the middle dragged a bit, but overall really enjoyed this story.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Candlewick Press for the advance reader copy!